Several Gulf nations are now in negotiations to purchase the Israeli-made Iron Dome missile defense system, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
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The Iron Dome system has intercepted approximately 85 percent of missiles fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip since it became operational in 2011, according to the Times of Israel.
The system marked for sale to the Gulf states will probably differ from the Iron Dome used by the IDF. The deal could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and the technology would likely be set up to defend a number of countries.
Up until a few years ago, the possibility of selling a missile interception system to the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf would have aroused opposition in both Israel and the Persian Gulf.
Aside from the Iron Dome system, the deal would also include longer range interceptor missiles such as David’s Sling, and the Arrow I and Arrow II, capable of intercepting supersonic intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to the report. A senior government source in one of the Gulf states said, “If Netanyahu were not making less of a mess of things and was more like Anwar Sadat, then we would be happy to buy the missiles straight from Israel”. Arab states fear the Iran nuclear deal, which is expected to see crippling worldwide sanctions against Tehran lifted in exchange for a commitment from Iran to freeze its nuclear program, will embolden Iran and allow its leaders to build up the country’s military.
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries, the Iron Dome system intercepts and destroys short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 2.5 to 43 miles, after analyzing whether their trajectory would take them to a populated area.
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Israel developed its anti-missile systems to defend against Gaza’s rockets in part but overwhelmingly against Hezbollah’s arsenal in southern Lebanon.
